CHARLOTTE — A year ago, Dan Morgan and Dave Canales were the belles of the ball in Mobile, glad-handing their way through Senior Bowl practices because they were new on the job. This year, they're just working.
A year ago, Derrick Brown was alone at the Pro Bowl Games, and this year, the Panthers have Pro Bowlers, plural, with Jaycee Horn and Robert Hunt representing in Orlando.
A year ago, it was impossible to know what was in store for Bryce Young in the future. This year, the trajectory is undoubtedly positive.
But most importantly, a year ago there was uncertainty all around because the Panthers were just coming out of a search for a coach and a GM again. Now, there's something resembling stability, and you realize how precious of a commodity that is.
Seeing coaching searches around the league wrap up (with one remaining) is a reminder that the Panthers are in the novel position of being able to build on something this offseason, which is a good thing. After several years of turnover at the most important positions, it's nice to let January be slow and uneventful. When that happens, it means things are pointing in the appropriate direction — at least until January fills up with playoff games, which is an even better thing.
When it's February, things will start happening again (the intensified draft meetings will kick in soon), but having this moment to breathe was good for everyone involved because there's still a lot of work to be done.
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What positions do you see as being the highest priority in the draft and free agency? — Mike, Boone, NC
The ones on defense. Specifically, the large people who chase quarterbacks.
Between the combination of a few injuries and the roster churn that comes with building out a roster, the Panthers used 86 players in at least one game last season. That's a league-high number and also way, way too many.
But the alarming part is that 11 of them were defensive linemen. If you recall, the Panthers play a 3-4 defense, which means you're only supposed to have three of them on the field at one time. And of that 11, only one of them (the big one, Brown) ended up on injured reserve, so there was a lot of churning and looking for options. For the record, that group included A'Shawn Robinson, Shy Tuttle, LaBryan Ray, Jaden Crumedy, Sam Roberts, and DeShawn Williams on the active roster at the end of the season, along with appearances throughout the season by Jonathan Harris, Jayden Peevy, TJ Smith, and Nick Thurman.
Likewise, they used 13 (exclamation mark) different outside linebackers in at least one game and eight different inside linebackers. There are only supposed to be two of each on the field at a given moment.
That kind of turnover is extreme, even in a situation in which turnover was expected. When a new coach and GM take over, there's going to be change. But with a stable defensive staff under coordinator Ejiro Evero and the same philosophy from the previous year, you didn't think it would require that many bodies. There were a lot of guys they liked in very particular roles who had to play much bigger roles than anticipated. And that creates the kind of problems that result in a defense that allows record-breaking amounts of points and rushing yards. There are some good players there, they just need help.
So they're looking to upgrade those spots this offseason, and you figure they're not going to be bashful about it. When they went into last offseason with a mandate to fix the offensive line (a year after allowing 65 sacks while using seven different left guards and eight different right guards in a game), that turned into Hunt and Damien Lewis signing free agent deals on the first day of the league year.
It's reasonable to expect the same kind of emphasis this year on the other side of the ball.
That's not to say there aren't other things this team needs (there's more work to get this roster right than can reasonably be done in one offseason), but that's the biggest need.
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I watched the Buffalo Bills lose to the Kansas City Chiefs by three points. The Bills were so close. One last drive. Score a touchdown down and go to the Super Bowl. So why would Panther fans care? Because Brandon Beane was assistant GM for the Panthers. Sean McDermott was the Panthers defensive coordinator. They shuffled off to Buffalo. Since then, the Bills have won the AFC East five years in a row. Gone to the AFC Championship game two times. Came within a whisker of the Super Bowl. It should have been the Panthers. So how did they do it? Beane has made mistakes. Big ones. Two first-round and one second-round draft choices were busts. He signed an aging free agent for $120 million, who has been injured for two years. But Beane has other good draft choices. He is getting production from his fourth-, fifth- and sixth-rounders. He finds undrafted players who contribute every week. Then he signs journeyman veterans who are looking for a good home and are willing to sign one-year deals. Meanwhile, McDermott has created a culture, instituted a process, and hired excellent position coaches.
So, why would Panther fans care? Because Dan Morgan worked for Beane in Buffalo. Dan knows the blueprint for building a successful team. Dave Canales worked for Pete Carrol in Seattle. Dave knows the secret sauce for creating a winning team. Dave is a quarterback whisperer who has worked miracles. So, Panthers fans. What would you say to winning the NFC South for the next five years and playing in the NFC Championship two times? Would you take it? It's possible. You have the two guys who can make it happen. Like Sam and Dave said, "Hold on, I'm coming." — Matt, Waxhaw, NC
To put what Matt said succinctly, Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott are very good at their jobs (they're also the rare duo to move from Charlotte to Buffalo. It's usually the other way around). No GM ever hits on every draft pick, but the key is keeping the batting average high. No coach makes the right call every time, but the key is the daily work of building a culture that sustains you when things get sideways.
There are way worse role models to have.
There were people on the outside who raised an eyebrow when Morgan got the GM job last year under the theory that internal options from a team that went 2-15 were unworthy of promotion. But in addition to being part of one of the league's great turnarounds to sustainability here as a player (from 1-15 and the next-to-last ranked defense in the league to a top-five unit and a Super Bowl appearance in two years and a team that went 71-57 in an eight-year span), he's seen it as a personnel guy as well.
Coming from an entry-level scouting job in Seattle and learning how to maintain a high level with Canales there and being part of Beane's build in Buffalo, Morgan knows what it looks like. Now, he just has to execute it.
Speaking of Sam and Dave, we lost Sam Moore earlier this month. One of the great soul voices of all time. RIP to the man himself, and thanks to Matt for giving me an excuse to listen to them this weekend.
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A sincere thank you for sharing your perspective and much-needed humor with us during another tough season. With Jaycee Horn's extension looming, I have a few thoughts and would love to hear your opinion on them.
I realize that Horn is a very good player, but I personally don't believe that he is elite (top 10), at least not yet, although the potential is clearly there. I also understand Panthers fans who want to see our first-round picks perform well to be rewarded and kept here. In an ideal world, signing Jaycee to a hefty extension would be a no-brainer. The Panthers do not live in an ideal world.
With so many needs and holes on our roster, does extending Horn prolong the process of a rebuild/retool? Could that money be used for two safeties and a depth LB? I was actually relieved when the Brian Burns trade went down. Not by the compensation, but by the 30 million a year we could use elsewhere (O-line). I'm not advocating either way on Jaycee; just interested in your thoughts on how the Panthers balance the desire to keep our guys and the clear need for more guys. Thanks Darin. Enjoy the offseason — Rick, Locust, NC
Thanks, Rick. To me, this is an easy one. When you have an ascending young player, especially one you drafted, you hang onto him.
Extending Jaycee this offseason is just like Derrick Brown getting paid last year; the value is for the culture as well as the talent. When you say you want to draft and develop, you have to back it up by investing in those guys.
And I do think Jaycee is at that top level of guys, as evidenced by being voted to the Pro Bowl by his peers (the fan vote certainly didn't get him there) while playing for a defense that made the wrong kind of headlines. Players understand that he's a special cat.
And it's always easier to find depth pieces than top-shelf talent, so when you have a chance to retain those guys, you do it.
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I want to know if you think Bryce Young has stepped up his game and that his final game was skill, not luck. — Brayden, New York, NY
That last one was pretty good — truly, it was the perfect way to close a season.
Seriously, completing 25-of-34 for 251 yards and three touchdowns and running for two touchdowns is as good as it gets. That's some Cam Newton-level action.
But the bigger point on Bryce was that it continued to get better as the season went along.
He won some games and had some good performances, but it's the steady improvement that stands out the most. Those final three games with a passer rating over 100.0, and two of them being overtime wins, are a fair indication that it wasn't a one-game blip.
That's not to say he's going to account for five touchdowns every week. And he still has to build on this performance next season and not repeat the first two games of this year.
But the progression from the Denver game to the finish of the season was impressive, and so was his accuracy and production while working in less-than-ideal conditions. With the defense being the way it was, he was generally playing from behind, and he was also out there with an odd lot of receiving targets (there was a game in which their only drafted receiver was former seventh-rounder David Moore). So credit to Bryce for not only bouncing back from a benching, but for continuing to improve after he reclaimed the job.
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Hi Darin, thank you so much for your dedication to bring us all things Panthers. I have enjoyed my FOTM shirt and have even had a few transplant Panthers fans here in VA recognize it and reminisce about Carolina food, culture, and glory days of football.
So here's my question: in the off season so many "experts" get to throw out random clickbait and hot takes with very limited accountability. We haven't even had free agency open up, and already these experts are declaring us failures if we don't draft player ___ fill in the blank. So, when the insiders say we need a player that's twitchy, heavy hands, fluid hips, are they describing a neurological condition or do they just get to make up adjectives that mean good at football? Here's your chance: if you can invent an adjective to describe a Panthers draft pick, what would it be? — Jonathan, Bedford, VA
Look at Jonathan, out there in the Commonwealth spreading the gospel. He's a regular Mailbag missionary.
Draft jargon tickles me because it seems to get sillier every year. I remember when one mid-round pick was asked about a scouting report that described him as having "fluid hips," replied: "Uhhh, I don't know what that means," and he clearly wasn't convinced it was a compliment.
Friend of the program Josh Kendall from The Athletic wrote a whole story from the combine last year about butt size, and it was a scream (as well as being an illuminating look at the details of the scouting process). Listening to football guys twist themselves in knots trying to quantify the size of a person's hindquarters — or posterior chain, or anchor, or bubble — never fails to entertain. Once, when former Panthers defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio was in Denver and trying to get his team bigger in the interior defensive line, some smart aleck who used to work at Pro Football Talk wrote a headline that invoked the wisdom of Sir-Mix-A-Lot. You may or may not recognize that smart aleck.
Between that and the annual fascination with hand size, there's a lot of objectification happening; much of it, frankly, should make people uncomfortable.
But if you're asking me what I think the Panthers need at the current moment, it's a couple of guys who are two ax-handles wide and a couple who are faster than a bad decision in a Gastonia nightclub.
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I always enjoy reading up on the Mailbag questions, and my first question that I have isn't even for you, but I would love some help! I'm over here as a lifetime Panther fan, excited for the start of the offseason and next game, taking in all of the news in the thankfully slow time now. But I came across the YouTube short that I have a question about. In the short "A word from Pro Bowler Robert Hunt", there are two songs that play in the short, one a nice calm classical song, the other a song full of screaming as Robert Hunt just mows people down. It's beautiful, and the social media team is doing an amazing job! Is there any way you can help me find someone on the team that may know what that song is? I have limited social media at this point and I don't believe that YouTube lets you message people. Any help would be greatly appreciated! — Joseph, Concord, NC
I went straight to the source for this one (senior producer of social video Connor Harrison), and found an answer for you.
The first one we should all recognize as a selection from the Vivaldi classic "The Four Seasons." Specifically, it's "Spring," Concerto No. 1 in E Major, Op. 8. This is a high-brow Mailbag, and it's acceptable and encouraged to enjoy the finer things in life.
The second, of course, is "Ignite" by something called Divyded. Specifically, it's the "Screamo Track". Shame Vivaldi never remixed "The Four Seasons" with a Screamo Track. Ron Rivera would have called that a missed opportunity.
The contrast in styles captures the duality of man well. Rob is a man who contains multitudes, and I assume Joseph does too, so I'm making him this week's Friend Of The Mailbag and will get the appropriate honorarium to him soon to wear to his next night out at the symphony.
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When is the upcoming season schedule released? I live in NY and only get to see the Panthers if they play the Giants or Patriots away (in the Northeast). This year the Giants "away" game was in Germany!!! They're never on TV here. I'm coming to Charlotte in Sept/Oct to see them, but I can't make hotel reservations until the schedule gets released!! Please help! Thanks ol' wise one! — Amy, Waterford, NY
Unfortunately, Amy, you're going to have to wait until May to book your travel package because the schedule doesn't drop until after the draft.
But hopefully for fans, the Panthers will be a little easier to see this year. After playing all of their games on Sunday and most of them at 1 p.m. last year, they may earn a little more notice from the broadcast world next year.
They're on the way up, and with Young dealing like he was late in the season, they're an entertaining watch. So it's reasonable to suspect that a prime-time appearance, or at least some more of those later-afternoon nationally broadcast games, could be in their future. They're never going to be on national TV every week, but they're on the verge of escaping witness protection.
And you can see all of next year's opponents here. Two of the road games (Jets and Jaguars) are against teams that play in London next season, so there's an added layer of intrigue in this year's announcement, and another chance that Amy's ability to see her favorite team in her home state is spoiled.
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As a long-time Panthers fan (since the start), I want to ask what the process is or who to reach out to ask for a design upgrade in uniforms and/or, at the very LEAST, incorporating a white helmet! Our color scheme is the best in the NFL but our uniform design has remained the same for 30 years! We are one of two teams in the NFL RIGHT NOW, that does not have a throwback uniform. Keep the silver helmets, but use them for a throwback uniform, and add a blue and white helmet for 2025! — Jared, Colorado Springs, CO
What if every week is the throwback? Did you ever think about that?
Also, you're not the only one thinking about this. When the team opened Pandora's equipment room and unveiled the black helmets a couple of years ago, it got people thinking about what might be next.
The reality is that the team's always thinking about ways to create interest and connect with fans, and there are plenty of people with thoughts about the uniform.
But changing a uniform is a long process in the NFL, as in years long. Any potential alterations go through the league, Nike, and many, many levels of revisions along the way. If they were to start now, it would likely be two seasons at the soonest before you'd see anything.
I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of the blue and the white helmet, but I also understand I'm no longer in the target demographic for alternate uniforms either.
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And on that note, let's go lightning round, brought to you by the patron saint of the lightning round Jeff from Fuquay-Varina, to close it out this week.
Panthers TE depth - we only have one who has starting experience under contract for 2025 (Ja'Tavion Sanders). Are you hearing anything about them bringing back Tommy Tremble, Ian Thomas, or both (insert crystal ball in pants reference)? Thanks for taking the question! — Ben, Milton, GA
The crystal ball remains in Ben McAdoo's other pants, and according to recent reports, those pants will remain in New England for another year. Good for Ben, and not just because he gave us a line that became a Mailbag staple.
Tommy has continued to improve every year and certainly played well down the stretch. And if he left, I'm not sure what Chuba Hubbard would do. But he and Ian are free agents, which means they get a choice in this deal too. They'll need to add to the position for sure, though it's not at the top of the shopping list.
Hey Darin! I read the mailbag every week and enjoy it each time. First a statement: your Arizona State prediction for the College Football Playoff did not hold up well. My question is, who do you think we will pick in the draft? — Tucker, Rock Hill, SC
That's what I get for trusting the impostor ASU. Everyone knows the only ASU is in Boone, NC, up high on the mountain and not in the middle of a desert. That's also what anyone gets for asking me about college football.
As such, you should take any January draft opinions with a grain of salt as well. Since we have months to narrow it down, I'd lean toward a pass-rusher because those guys tend to fly off the board, so when you have a top-10 pick and a need there, it just makes sense.
Which top free agents do you think the Panthers will go all in for? — Robert, Archdale, NC
The large ones.
Hi Darin, my prediction that we would double (or better) our win total over last season came true due to our tremendous team's hard work. When and to where should I deliver these two livermush sandwiches? — Jeff, Concord, NC
Now you're speaking my love language. See, things can become vastly different in just a year, but Jeff knows my fondness for livermush is eternal and unchanging.
